What advice would you offer a 50 year old Brown Belt (Isshin-Ryu) who has never sparred competitively at a tournament before? I mean, besides "What, are you, nuts?"
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Put your best foot forward. Don't try to out-kick a kicker, out-sweep a sweeper, etc. Stick to what you do best, and use it to your best advantage.
Great advice, thanks! With regard to your last statement; I'm pretty good at stepping on my opponent's foot, pinning his lead foot to the ground, and then pummeling him. I also tend to rush and then jam the kick when kickers kick high and they're faster than me (which is practically everybody). Are those tactics legal in a tournament?
Put your best foot forward. Don't try to out-kick a kicker, out-sweep a sweeper, etc. Stick to what you do best, and use it to your best advantage.
Thank you!
My best assets are that I am slow, heavy, and hit hard!
I realize that isn't much of an advantage in tournament sparring...but perhaps I can use it to my advantage. I can practice getting out of the way of kicks; I've had high kickers in my dojo note that it can be hard to kick me since I tend to rush and jam the kick as soon as I see it coming up. It's about my only defense; and if the kicker is both high and fast, I'm in trouble, since they can unleash before I can jam their kick.
But perhaps I can work out some kind of defense that puts my 'skills' to work.
I was watching this video and wondering how the heck I would defend against either of these guys - both kickers. Not terribly fast, but perhaps faster than me...
I saw another video of a guy who was hopping on one leg, kicking over and over again with the other without lowering it. He was fast, and could apparently hop forever on the one leg. And sweeping is forbidden...! He was sticking the leg out like it was a leading jab, and it sure was effective at keeping the other guy away!
Circle your opponent until they do something stupid.What advice would you offer a 50 year old Brown Belt (Isshin-Ryu) who has never sparred competitively at a tournament before? I mean, besides "What, are you, nuts?"
Great advice! Never move straight back from a continuous attack. I did once and wore a busted nose. Tough lesson!! Always move off the line and hit them from the angle.Don't back away from them, a body accelerates forward faster than backward, so moving back they can drive on you. Instead if they attack, angle away in a circular movement around them, and if they attack and you angle, that is when to explode on them.